5(a)

Within the context of electronic music, an impulse is a current surge that you hear as a click. The impulse is in itself musically neutral, but it can cause an object to vibrate, thus producing something that is musical. In this process the ›momentum‹ of the object alters. This phenomenon has splendid physical implications which have inspired me: such as the transfer of the angular momentum from the one element to the other in a system where the elements are circling around. In this way stars can be formed from rotating protoplanetary disks. In much of my music a circling impulse opens up a space in which a moment can settle itself. (Cf. Music and Space in: Notes – No Notes.) Thus impulses render the emptiness of space audible – emptiness versus silence – as the entry and exit for music. But the rotating impulse constellations are also the world of elements made audible – elements that are not yet music, or are no longer music. The philosopher Levinas calls this indeterminate world of the elements ›the elemental.‹ [See: Emmanuel Levinas, Totalité et Infini, The Hague 1974; part 2, chapter 2.] The rotating impulse constellation is an interval in the manifestation of musical significance, where the musical presence is reduced to a state of not-yet-existing or no-longer-existing; an in-between moment during which the musical elements redeploy or gather together in their neutral quality; a zero moment at which the identity of musical forms dissolves or is prepared.

Impulses, at least in theory (see: ›Impulses – 1‹,) give elements the initial impetus to interact with each other to arrive at musical forms: groups, shapes, gestures, melodies, harmony…; potential forms which can become embedded in our memory.

In ›Impulses – 3‹ I shall explain how the impulses in my compositions should be interpreted and performed. (Translation: Robert Coupe)